Must See Photos: Macro Snowflakes by Alexey Kljatov

Winter is coming, friends, which means all across the world millions of children will learn, for the very first time, how "no snowflake is ever alike" thanks to tiny variances in temperature and humidity as water freezes whilst falling. And we all know it's true. Maybe we've even seen a few snowflakes under a microscope to appreciate their miniature beauty.

But, friends, you've never seen snowflakes look quite as magical as this...

Online art and design magazine, Bored Panda, uncovered a wonderful series of macro snowflake photographs taken by Russian photographer, Alexey Kljatov. And the best part? Kljatov used a consumer grade camera, an old macro lens, and leftover materials from around the house to do it. Kljatov literally taped a Canon PowerShot A650 to a Soviet era "Helios 44M-5" SLR macro lens and then used an upside down glass table to capture individual flakes backlit by an LED flashlight, or against dark woolen fabrics under natural light.

Finally, Alexey crops his photos down from the full 12MP, and post processes them to add a bit of color because the original images are "almost monochromatic and looks not appealing." Here are some of his best shots, accumulated over various winters from 2009-2013:

Let Alexey's wonderful photographs serve as inspiration to all who dream of creating great art at small expense. Thank you, Alexey!